The Marauders' Party: Compromises
by iamthelorax111
Summary: The Marauders were notorious for throwing the best parties. "Best" did not even describe them accurately. They were off-the-broom, transfigure-your-head, jinx-you-into-next-week incredible. Even the one thing that could derail a Marauder party like no other appeared to be in order that night too, Lily Evans. Or so James Potter thought. One-shot.


**Currently on this site I've posted a Nine Lives of Chloe King Fanfic, which is a fandom I love, but my heart truly lies with Harry Potter, particularly James and Lily and the Marauders, aka, the best people ever. This story just wrote itself one day and I thought it would be a good place to start as I start to go public with my Jily stuff. Hope you like it and I would love and reviews as I will hopefully post other Marauder stories in the future. Happy reading!**

* * *

The Marauders were notorious for throwing the best parties. "Best" did not even describe them accurately. They were off-the-broom, transfigure-your-head, jinx-you-into-next-week incredible. Students from all the houses would beg to attend, and yes, even the occasional Slytherin was known to step foot in the red and gold showered parties because they were that great. For when the music started playing and the butterbeer was drunk, people forgot about the house tensions, mountains of homework, and even the world beyond Hogwarts for one night of fun.

Even the one thing that could derail a Marauder party like no other appeared to be in order that night too. James Potter smiled into his butterbeer as his eyes scanned the room and rested on the red-headed dancing with her friends on the makeshift dance floor in the middle of the room. Normally at this hour into one of their parties she was rounding up all the underclassmen for bed, confiscating any alcoholic drinks and yelling that the music needed to be turned down. And the yelling was usually right in James's ear. It was refreshing that he was not having to doge and weave through the crowd to evade Lily Evans' wrath, a thing that should be avoided at all costs.

"Eyeing Evans again I see." Remus said, breaking James out of his trance.

"Again?" he scoffed, taking another drink, "There's no 'again' about it. You know what happened, we tried it, but.."

"But you two are too different, she didn't understand how to take a joke and was not willing to compromise while you were, ultimately you too are better off apart." Remus finished the sentence because he had heard it practically every day since they had broken up. It was now six months since they had dated for five months and Remus did not think James was over it yet. There had been a couple rebound girls, one that even lasted two months, but that did not keep his eyes from looking for Lily in a crowd. All the Marauders knew it was not over except for James.

"Fuck off, Moony. It's true, she just doesn't get it."

"Fine, fine, enough Evans talk. Got it." Remus conceded before it turned into another three-hour Potter rant.

James fixed him with a slight glare to drive home the point before cracking into his signature smirk, he could never stay mad at a fellow Marauder for long. "I was looking for you by the way, love the candles. Amazing charm work really." He gestured to the plethora of floating candles lighting the party. "If they are knocked or fall they automatically go out. No fires. Which is smart considering what happened this past Halloween, and the May bash before that, and the post Hufflepuff party."

Remus nodded, "True, and don't forget about the Snail Society Red Carpet Party."

His comment caused James to laugh as he remembered their knock-off Slug Club event, "oh yes, who could forget? There is still a scorch mark on the fourth-floor corridor ceiling."

Now laughter had also consumed Remus, with both boys trying to keep from spilling their drinks everywhere. "I must say," Remus stated between breaths, "I still can't believe we got away with that one. Pure dumb luck."

"Which is why these self-extinguishing candles are genius! Just sorry it took us this long."

"Well that's what I was going to ask you, I didn't cast the spell on the candles, I thought you did Prongs."

"Me? No, you know I've been super busy with Quidditch and my auror application."

"Well I was in the hospital most of last week because of…. you know," Remus raised his eyebrows to silently indicate the reason was because of his 'furry little problem', "There's no way I had the time to charm the decorations."

"I just assumed since that's your expertise of the party planning.

"I swear to you Prongs, it wasn't me."

"Then damn, the world might have just ended because Padfoot must have actually read a charms book and did work if he was the one who came up with the candles."

"And became responsible enough to actually think about safety at a party." Remus piped in.

"True!" James exclaimed, looking around for the black-haired mutt, specifically NOT looking at Lily, "the apocalypse most defiantly is here and my brain has exploded."

Spotting Sirius across the room in the middle of trying to pull the only Ravenclaw seventh year he had not slept with yet and did not have a boyfriend, James started to make his way over with Remus in tow. A couple of sixth year Gryffindors tried to flirt with James but he brushed them off much to Remus' amusement. Before they completely made it over to Padfoot, the fourth and final Marauder stumbled into their path.

"Prongs! Moony! I can't believe this party! And I can't believe how you took care of Flitch. Brilliant! Truly brilliant! I'm honestly surprised you got Peeves to agree to overflow the first-floor loos after that prank with the green goo and flying frizzing wheezebees."

Remus and James looked at each other, registering the confused looks on each of their faces. Then back to Peter. Then back to each other.

"Did you…"

"No, told you full moon…"

"But I didn't…"

"So then who…"

"Wait!" Peter called, "That wasn't us? Merlin, we're lucky then. Otherwise I bet all the people sneaking up to this party would have been busted. This is the largest non-Gryffindor turnout ever."

Peter's comment pulled James from his thoughts of trying to figure out the Flitch situation to using his height to look around the room. There _were_ more non-Gryffindors than usual. Their parities in the past had always drawn the attention of other house members, but generally there was not enough room and the noise level got too much for even their best charm work. So, they would have to give the McGonagall warning to disperse before 1 a.m. and the epic party would be over.

"But surely this many people can be heard from three corridors away," Remus commented, also finally registering the mass number of people in the room. There was at least twice the amount of their regular crowds. "I think that was a second year who just pushed pass us."

"And Evans isn't flipping her cauldron?" Peter questioned, "We are SO lucky tonight!"

"Yeah..." said James as he focused back on moving towards Sirius. There was a slight unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach that he needed to get to the bottom of. If anyone could give answers to the Flitch prank, underclassmen, candles... all of it, Sirius would. He was always such a sneaky bastard.

The three of them closed the gap to the self-dubbed "Hogwarts's heartthrob", Sirius Black, who was still unsuccessfully trying to woo the Ravenclaw bird. She took their arrival as an opportunity to slip into the dancing masses.

"So, Padfoot…" James started before being interrupted by his extremely loud best mate and the smell of alcohol on his breath.

"PRONGS! Moony! Wormtail… ah you guys," Sirius shouted, "you guys are the best mates EVER!"

"Ok Padfoot, how many drinks have you had?" Remus asked the clearly drunk Sirius.

"Limit has definitely been reached I must say, and so early I must say. But I must say that is only because of this guy," Sirius slurring, pointing to James.

"Oh, 'must you say', really?" James asked with a smirk, amused at the state of his best friend, "and what does that even mean?"

"I MEAN, this is the greatest surprise party some mates have thrown for their other mate ever!" A picture at that moment would show the other three Marauder's jaws hitting the floor, but the news kept on coming. "And I'm this drunk because Prongs finally sprung for the quality fire whiskey, you know... Seeker's Gold? Half the amount, twice the buzz!"

"Seeker's Gold? I didn't get the drinks. That's always your job Padfoot." James answers with a stunned look on his face. The circumstances of this party kept on getting more and more strange.

Remus interrupted, "Um, I think the important question is why you think this is a surprise party for you?"

Leaning against the wall to support his drunken ass, Sirius replied, "Well, I didn't have anything to do with this party and only one of us would have to balls to pull a ragger of this size off. Sooooooo, logic dictates, if not me, you guys did it. So, in conclusion BEST MATES EVER!"

"Wait, so if Padfoot is completely wasted and didn't get the drinks, that means…" Peter's eyes widen with his realization. Remus's were also starting to fill with slight panic.

"It means you need to check on the Flitch situation using the map, Peter," James said, snapping into leader mode, "Moony, go out into the corridor and check how far the sound travels, it's nearing midnight and we don't want to be caught off guard if we have to make the 'McGona-call'. I'm going to get this one some water and figure out what's up with the Seeker's Gold. For Merlin's sake, there's underclassmen here!"

The mostly coherent Marauders took off to assess their respective situations. What none of the party guest realize when they attend one of the famous Marauder's raggers is that is takes a lot of forethought to prevent any major accidents from happening. So, there had been some slight fires, broken furniture (and bones), and stains on the carpet, but most importantly, they had never been shut down by the professors. They always managed to get everyone to disperse. Which is what made this party so high risk once they had pieced together that none of them had taken their usual preemptive measures. In fact, James was having trouble recalling any of the details that went into planning this party.

He managed to clear a path to the drink table and break through the horde of third years clustered around. There was an array of drinks, pumpkin juice, butterbeer, and of course the good fire whiskey. Quite a few bottles James noticed. In the past, they had only managed to sneak a few bottles from the Three Broomsticks and into the party without hassle. Plus, they always had to keep it hidden because even James was not willing to let the students under 15 years old drink, but someone had broken that rule.

"Oi! Where did you guys get these bottles?" James asked the third years in a tone that was probably a little too threatening, but his head was not in the right place with all other misfires going on.

A couple of the younger students could only open and close their mouths with no sound. Finally, one of them found their voice to speak to James Potter, Quidditch all-star and practical king of Hogwarts. "They… they were here from the start of the party… and we weren't drinking from them."

"Why not? You don't want the free booze, especially the best fire whiskey out there?"

The boy looked even more nervous. "Yes, I mean no.. I mean… we can't. We've tried to but the bottles are charmed. If anyone 15 or under pours from the bottle, it just turns into water. And the cups too! If someone under 15 holds one with alcohol, it will turn to water. This one sixth year got pissed when their Seeker's Gold got transfigured when they asked me hold their cup. It doesn't change back." All the other third years nodded their head vigorously in agreement.

James gave him a curious look and poured himself some fire whiskey. He then offered it to the wide-eyed underclassmen before taking it back to sip. His own eyes dilated slightly as he only tasted water. That was some incredible spell casting. Something that even him, the best transfiguration student, would have to study to pull off.

"Ok, thank you for telling me. Now enjoy your pumpkin juice and please move along." James flashed one of his signature smiles to smooth it over and the kids took off with their non-alcoholic beverages to the dance floor. But his moment was short lived as Peter returned.

"Flitch is still wrapped up in the downstairs bathroom and it appears whenever he's almost done, Peeves shows up and he has to stay. My guess is that he's bursting pipes." Peter reported.

James studied him and was about to respond when Remus rejoined their cluster. "You can't hear anything in the halls! It's quite incredible, I'm impressed. I think there might even be some rune work involved." Remus gushed.

"Well, the bottles are charmed to only let the upperclassmen drink the alcohol. I agree, it is impressive, which is worse." James concluded.

"And why is that?" asked Remus.

"Because what you just reported is that we didn't actually do any of this. The decorations, the guests, the charms… all has the air of Marauder work, but is far better than what we've ever done."

Both of Remus and Peter's jaws slacked in realization of his statement. The coolest party in the history of Hogwarts and they were not responsible.

"Well, whoever pulled this off is brilliant," Remus accepted.

"True, true," Peter nodded his head, "this party _is_ amazing."

"You know what's AMAZING?" Sirius suddenly shouted, crashing their huddle.

"You not yelling in my ear?" quipped Remus, now struggling to support drunk Sirius who was using him as a human crutch.

"Wrong you silly Moony! It is amazing Evans has not shut down this fucking amazing party!" Sirius exclaimed.

"All right, let's get you settled in a chair. Prongs, the water?" Remus stated, moving them towards the sitting area, but the wheels in James's were rapidly turning with a new explanation to the whole situation. Peter followed up with the water as James started searching the crowd once again for the girl with the red hair.

"Evans… Evans… Evans…" James mumbled to himself, gazing over the throng of people dancing and drinking and having the time of their lives at the best party ever. "Evans." He spotted her on the opposite side, but what stunned him was that she was looking right back at him. Her fantastically green eyes were piercing his hazel ones, with an uncharacteristic twinkle he couldn't quite place. They called him across the room until he was standing in front of the one and only Lily Evans.

"Evans."

"Potter."

"Enjoying the party?" he asked, not looking away from her eyes, not backing down.

"Of course, this is the best party ever thrown, everyone is enjoying themselves. Aren't you?" Lily replied, maintaining their intense eye contact.

"Oh yes, I'm just surprised you're not acting like you have in the past, running around confiscating drinks and sending underclassmen to bed. And always yelling for people to be quiet, less McGonagall hear." He smirked as she scrunched her nose in response, trying to look angry but not capturing the emotion at all.

"Well, the young ones can't drink the alcohol, the candles won't catch anyone on fire, and something tells me McGonagall can't hear this epic party going on," she rebuked.

"Yes, the silencing charms around this place are next level, and the self-extinguishing charms are pure genius," continued James.

Lily let out a slight huff, "Are you complimenting yourself? Really?"

"No," James defended, "you and I both know this is not Marauder's work. It is too good, even I admit to that. Just don't ask drunk Sirius." Lily smiled slightly. "But the one thing I can't figure out is why you are letting the underclassmen attend. You always said and I quote, 'just because you are corrupted, crazy, unprincipled boys does not mean you have to corrupt the young ones'."

Now Lily was full on smiling at James's bad impersonation of her, "I have it on good authority that if anyone in forth year or below wanted to attend this brilliant party, they had to get at least E's on their latest major exams. The entire second year passed their charms test on Thursday. Flitwick is extremely impressed. So, they deserve a night of fun without me crashing the party."

"Wow Evans, you're an inspiration. So then, the real question is, why?"

"Why what James?"

James was slightly taken back by the way she used his first name. After their break-up, they had agreed to use last names just to make things simpler. There was no hostility behind it, James just couldn't stand the way she said his name and not be with her.

"Why did you throw this party? And before you try and deny it," he interrupted her as she opened her mouth to respond, "I know it was you. No one else can pull off this much quality spell work, and the good grade ticket? That is the epidemy of an Evans plan."

He continued to stare at her, trying to suppress the well of emotions that were bubbling to the surface. If he was being honest with himself, he did miss her. But the reality was, when they were dating they had argued even more. She was always trying to get him to behave within ridiculously high standards and there was not enough laughter for the type of relationship he wanted. Ultimately James was not sure he could endure another anguish related to Lily Evans again.

"So I ask again," James barely whispered, "why the party?" His eyes silently pleaded with her to let it drop, break the tension of whatever was building around them, to walk away from whatever line they were about to cross. Lily looked at him a moment longer before surrendering and dropping her emerald eyes to her shoes. He could see her take in a deep breath before she spoke, once again making eye contact.

"The party is for you."

James's eyebrows almost hit his hairline. "Excuse me?"

"I said, it's for you, James."

He just continued to look at her with furrowed eyebrows, waiting for an explanation for the answer he did not expect to hear. He was not sure what he was expecting, but not this.

"I don't know what I was thinking exactly, but I guess I wanted to show you that I could compromise."

"Compromise?" James echoed.

"Yes," Lily continued, shifting slightly in her position between him and the wall, "well, technically, first I wanted to plan the most epic party out of spite to prove you wrong. But then, you started dating again and it appeared I was the only one still heartbroken. So, once I calmed down enough to not kill which ever girl you were seeing, I thought of ways to try and repair this. But how does someone impress James freaking Potter, Hogwarts's best?"

She paused to look at him, waiting for a reaction. She could practically see the gears working in his head, so she answered her own question to drive home the point.

"With the best, so that's what I did."

He narrowed his eyes slightly, continuing his gaze. "This is the best?" James challenged with a smirk, breaking the trance he had been in.

Lily matched him smirk for smirk, stepping just a hair closer, but increasing the growing tension tenfold. "Don't even try and pretend you can do better."

"Are you referring to the party or to the girl?" James asked, slipping back into their banter pattern in an effort to cut the tension.

However, Lily always managed to come back with the quickest quips, it was one of the reasons he was so drawn to her. "A party reflects its planner, so you tell me."

"So you're saying you're perfect."

"No, I'm saying that I'm the best for you, as you are for me. We make each other better," she stated as if it were the easiest thing in the world. As if it were not a statement that would change this comfortable cohead position they were in. They were not friends, not enemies, and certainly nothing more, like they had been six months ago.

"No, that's a lie. You expected the best from me and when I couldn't deliver you became disappointed, even when the standard was impossible. And the arguing, and…" James tried to reason.

But Lily interrupted, "And I'm becoming better, because that's what you make me want to do. I know I fucked up, I will own that, but now, I want to make amends. Please?" She stepped even closer, gazing up into his eyes. He could see her raw emotions, she meant what she said.

"So you say you're sorry and that's it? I'm just supposed to let you have everything?"

"No, I don't want you to roll over. I want you to challenge me. And I want us to compromise, just like this party, it's mostly Marauder with the right flare of Lily, you couldn't even tell until you looked closely."

James looked around at the party, all the people having a good time, then back at the girl practically toe to toe with him. "Yes, but still, this could never work, we yelled at each other, bickered…

"Do you want to try and compromise?" Lily asked, cutting him off again from slugging their relationship through the mud.

"What?" James questioned softly for her proximity meant she could hear every word, no matter the volume.

Lily fixed her eyes on him, asking him again, but also asking so much more as she green orbs sparkled, "I said, despite everything, do you still want to try?"

He paused just slightly before answering, "Yes, but that doesn't matter because…"

But it really did not matter because at that moment Lily kissed him. She closed the final centimeters between their bodies and their lips as she launched herself into his arms and poured all that she had into the kiss.

They had kissed before when they were dating, pecks between classes, after Quidditch victory kisses, and a couple stolen snog sessions, but this single kiss from Lily managed to top them all. James felt all her remorse for her past actions, yet, there was more, hope for the future. A future that felt like it was meant to have him in it if this kiss was any indication. His head kept on swirling with thoughts of Lily and how he was supposed to respond, should he try and resist? Should he just give in? Should he come up with some sort of plan to get payback?

Before he could formulate any sort of coherent plan though, Lily pulled away briefly, enough to look him in the eye and whisper, "Please James, stop thinking and just feel, feel with your heart."

An instant grin grew across James' face. "How did you.."

Lily smiled back at him, glee pure in her eyes, "Because while I waited for you, biding my time till the moment was right, and planning the most epic party, I studied you, learning your tells. You furrow your brow and your mouth goes straight when you're thinking. Makes it hard to kiss."

"Sounds a bit stalker like." James teased, in awe of the changed woman in front of him. Lily from a couple months ago was closed off and uninterested, she had transformed into someone who took the time to plan an event to show him how she changed.

"Call it even for you stalking me all of fifth year and part of sixth."

"What? No, I didn't stalk you at all sixth year…" James defended.

"I beg to differ," Lily replied, "but honestly James, do you want to fight or snog?"

He pretended to contemplate it for a moment, but in all honesty, all his guards had fallen and any hope he had for getting over Lily Evans was gone like a puff of smoke.

He smiled down at her, "I think kissing sounds like a good compromise."

Relief flooded her eyes, and for the first-time James realized how important this was to her. The party, the festivities, the sneakiness and banter, it was all for show. The real Lily had also broken down all her walls for James, and had put her heart on the line.

So, James reassured her, gazing into her emerald eyes, "In fact, I think it sounds like a bloody brilliant compromise, one of many to come."

Lily smiled up at him before winding her hands from his shoulder into his unruly black hair, "Glad to hear it," before once again closing the gap between their lips.

Across the crowded room of dancing folks and loud music, Remus looked up from getting Sirius to drink some water, seeing the happy couple reunited. He smirked to both Peter and the drunken mess sitting in the chair, "You both owe me 5 gallons," he said gesturing to the opposite wall.

Peter sighed, patting his pockets for his gold, "Well fine, so it was not a complete waste of our time."

"More like it was about bloody time," Sirius interjected, having a clear enough moment to see his best mate and the girl that was perfect for him together. The three of the looked around at the ragger and then at each other with a smirk. Mischief managed for all parties that night.


End file.
